The Art of a Woodburner

I have a good friend who loves woodburning as a hobby and I was amazed at how wonderfully rendered his pieces were. His name is Dave Hasse and he’s been woodburning for quite a while. Being an art major in college myself, I could appreciate how much attention to detail it took for Dave to get the beautiful results that he does. The wood that the images are rendered on give the pieces that “natural outdoor” feel.

I recently asked Dave permission to put him into our blog and he kindly agreed. I asked him to share a little bit about himself and his hobby. I hope you enjoy Dave’s work as much as i did.

” I was given a woodburning kit somewhere between the age of 8 and 12. I traced outlines of pictures provided in the kit. Later, I did them on my own, using pictures of animals, as I had always enjoyed nature. There were lapses of time when I didn’t burn anything. A few were done in high school, but nothing much until I was in California . I used books and pictures of animals as references, and produced several. I later added commissioned portraits and lettering to the collection. Occasionally I would include color in the form of watercolor or colored pencil.

I’ve been using a basic woodburning tool from a craft store, but discovered that in the future, I’ll have to use a hotter, more advanced tool to burn on a wider variety of wood. I have used basswood so far, which is also recommended for carving. The tool comes with a variety of copper points, but I have mainly used a universal wedge point. The basswood comes in bark-edged planks and slices, or sheets, often used by cabinet makers. The surface is usually clean and knot-free.

The subject is drawn with pencil in detail before burned. Pieces can take ten to twenty hours. A UV coating can be brushed on to complete the piece. Sometimes I’ve brushed on instant coffee beforehand to act as a stain to keep the wood from looking unfinished. As I stated, animals and birds have been preferred subjects. It’s difficult to choose a favorite, but I’ve always liked the one with the crown of thorns, the Cuban tree frog, and the two foxes playing.”